The Advance of Assyria. It was at this time that Assyria became the dominating factor in Northern Israel's history. This enterprising and ambitious nation was apparently an offshoot of the old Babylonian empire. It occupied the fertile plains east of the upper Tigris. As early as the eighteenth century B.C. it began to break away from the authority of Babylon. About 1100 B.C. Tiglath-pileser I laid the foundations of the Assyrian empire by campaigns in Babylonia, Elam, Mesopotamia, and Syria; but it was not until 854 B.C. that Assyria touched Israel. Then, according to the annals of the Assyrian king, Shalmanezer II defeated Ahab, together with the other princes of Syria, at the battle of Karkar. By 842 he had conquered practically all of Syria and received tribute from Jehu of Israel. During the reigns of the next two Assyrian kings the advance of this great world power was stayed. But when Tiglath-pileser IV founded a new dynasty he injected fresh energy into the empire, recovered its lost territory, and advanced to the conquest of Palestine.
Amos's Home at Tekoa. It was probably about the time when Tiglath-pileser IV began to institute his aggressive policy that Amos delivered his epoch-making sermon at the royal sanctuary in Bethel.[(77)] His home was at Tekoa, twelve miles south of Jerusalem, and but twenty-two from Bethel. Tekoa was the eastern outpost of Judah. Broad, rich fields lay on the north and west, but to the east it looked down upon the barren rounded hills that descended to the Dead Sea and toward the bold uplands of Moab in the distance. The town was situated on an elevated plateau which commanded a view of nearly all the places mentioned in the prophet's sermons: Kirioth in Moab, the region about Bethel and Gilgal, and the roads that led to Philistia, Egypt, and Edom. The dominant feature in the landscape was the Dead Sea, with its blue waters, its rising mists, and its gray, purple, and yellow cliffs. It was a grim, rugged, awe-inspiring outlook and clearly made a deep impression upon the thought and life of the prophet. Among the dry, rock-covered pasture lands, that run up to the eastern side of the town of Tekoa, the prophet received his training.[(103)] To-day, as in the past, it is the land of sheep and goats. The wildness of the region and the proximity to the desert demanded strong, stalwart shepherds, inured to hardship, keen to detect the presence of a foe, quick to repulse the attack of wild beast or lurking Arab robbers, and tender in their care of the young and the injured. Among these silent, treeless hills or beside the occasional spring, the traveller to-day meets this type of shepherd, silent and resourceful, armed with his short, heavy, wooden staff.
Influence of His Environment Upon the Prophet. Here Amos learned to champion the cause of the oppressed, to scent danger from afar, and faithfully to sound the alarm. His occupation doubtless took him to the annual festivals and market days at Jerusalem and Bethel, where his shepherd training asserted itself. He could not shut his eyes to the cruel oppression of the poor and dependent classes by the rich, greedy nobles. From afar he also noted the approach of the Assyrian lion. Being a faithful shepherd he could not remain silent. As he meditated on the situation in the quiet of his shepherd life among the hills about Tekoa, the conviction deepened into certainty that Jehovah in these varied ways was speaking to him, calling him to sound the note of alarm that the rulers of Israel might see the peril, right the wrongs, and thus save their nation. The influence of his shepherd's life and point of view is present in all his utterances. His message is a clear blast of desert air, sweeping through the corrupt atmosphere of the city, tainted as it was by that degenerate Canaanite civilization which still polluted the centres of Northern Israel's life.
Evidence Regarding Hosea's Home. A few years after Amos appeared at Bethel a prophet arose in Northern Israel itself, who reiterated the message of the shepherd from Tekoa in equally impressive terms. The superscription of Hosea's prophecy is unfortunately silent regarding his home. Local oriental tradition, however, has supplied this lack. One of the most commanding heights of southern Gilead bears the name of Jebel Ôsha, which is the Arabic for "Mountain of Hosea." Here, according to a tradition at least three hundred years old and perhaps based upon an older Jewish original, the prophet was buried. Here the Bedouin still sacrifice sheep in his honor. Possibly local tradition has preserved a fact unrecorded in the biblical narrative. It is indeed significant that Hosea alone of all the prophets makes frequent mention of the land of Gilead and reveals an intimate knowledge of its history. Thus, for example, he refers in 10:14 to the time when Shalmen, probably the Assyrian king Shalmanezer III, laid in ruins Beth-arbel in the day of battle. The city referred to is clearly one of the two east-Jordan towns bearing this name, and in all probability the Arbel east of Pella in the heart of northern Gilead. In 12:11 he declares: "In Gilead is iniquity, yea, they have wrought vanity." Again in 6:8, probably referring to the unidentified city east of the Jordan mentioned in Judges 10:17, he declares:
Gilead is a city of evil-doers,
Tracked with bloody footprints,
And as bandits lay in wait for a man,
So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem,
Verily they commit deliberate crime.
View From Jebel Ôsha. The bold heights of Jebel Ôsha commanded a view of most of the places mentioned in Hosea's prophecies. Across the valley lay the territory of the great tribe of Ephraim whose name is constantly used by him as a synonym for Northern Israel. A little to the northwest were the heights of Ebal and Gerizim, which guarded Shechem and the highway which led directly to the city of Samaria. From the same mountain height could be seen to the northwest the rounded top of Mount Tabor, which is the northernmost point mentioned by Hosea. Directly across the Jordan was the northern Gilgal, and a little to the southwest was the table-land of Bethel. Farther south was the height of Ramah. Hosea's prophecies also contain a surprising number of references to the lower Jordan valley, which lay stretched out immediately below the mountain peak which to-day bears his name. Just opposite were probably to be found the ancient cities of Admah and Zeboim. The former may be identified with the city of Adam, mentioned in the second chapter of Joshua (cf. p. 125), which probably stood near the Damieh ford, just below the point where the Jabbok enters the Jordan. Farther north the Plain of Jezreel comes down to the Jordan, while to the southwest one may see the Valley of Achor, the present Wady Kelt, cutting its way through the western hills toward Ai and Bethel. Hosea also refers to Baal-peor in southern Gilead and to Shittim in the valley below, near the lower fords of the Jordan. Thus there are many indications in the ancient prophecy that Hosea lived among the hills of Gilead, and that, like Amos, he was a man who moved among the heights with a broad outlook ever before him. The message which these two prophets proclaimed was as different as the vistas which opened before them. Amos used the figures of the shepherd; Hosea those of agricultural life. Amos looked upon the evidence of Jehovah's might and justice; Hosea upon fertile fields and tree-clad hills, which spoke of Jehovah's love and his gracious provision for his people's needs. Thus the messages of these two contemporary prophets supplemented each other, the one proclaiming Jehovah's justice, the other Jehovah's love.
Conquest of Galilee and Gilead. The rulers of Northern Israel, however, were as irresponsive to Hosea's pleadings as they were to Amos's stern warnings. The result was that when in 734 B.C. Tiglath-pileser IV invaded Northern Israel, an assassin sat on the throne and the rank and file of the people were crushed by the cruelty and oppression of those who should have defended them. Northern Israel was swept by the armies of the conqueror. Ijon, which was a city on the rich plain in northern Galilee between the Litany and the Nahr el-Hasbany, that still bears the name Merj Ayun (Ijon); Janoah, a city in the heights six miles east of Tyre; Abel-beth-maacah, at the upper end of the Jordan valley; Kadesh, Hazor, east of Lake Huleh and Ijon, were among the important cities captured in northern Galilee. Lower Galilee and Gilead were also overrun, their leading citizens transported to Assyria, and their territory annexed to that of the Assyrian empire.
The Exiled Northern Israelites. Tiglath-pileser IV left to Hoshea, the last king of Northern Israel, simply the territory west of the Jordan and south of the Plain of Esdraelon. After ruling for a decade as the vassal of Assyria, this king rebelled. For nearly three years his capital, Samaria, held out against the Assyrian armies, but at last, late in 722 B.C., Samaria fell before the conqueror and twenty-seven thousand two hundred and ninety of its citizens were deported to different parts of the Assyrian empire. Some were settled in the province of Gozan on the upper waters of the Habor River, which flows southward into the Euphrates. They found a home, therefore, near the centre of Mesopotamia. References in the Assyrian inscriptions suggest that Halah was a city in western Mesopotamia. The third colony of exiles were settled in the Median cities to the east of Assyria.
The Fate of Northern Israel. The great majority of the people of Northern Israel were left behind in their cities and villages. To destroy their racial unity colonists were imported by the Assyrians from three cities—Babylon, Kutha, which is probably the Assyrian Kutu, a city a little northeast of Babylon, and Sippar, north of Babylon. Other colonists were brought from Hamath, the capital of the conquered northern Aramean kingdom. These colonists were in time absorbed by the native population. In later history this mixed race is known as the Samaritans.[(104,][105)] For the next century Northern Israel largely lost its political and religious significance and became simply a part of the great Assyrian empire. In its brief history it demonstrated the great truth that prosperity, opportunity, and culture do not necessarily develop strong national character. At the same time through its prophets it gave to the world certain truths regarding Jehovah's justice and love which are the corner-stones of the faith of humanity.